Located a mere 55 miles north of San Francisco, Sonoma County is a hub for some of the region's best food. From March 9-15, they will host their sixth annual Restaurant Week, and we’ve got the scoop on the dishes you shouldn't miss.

The 25-seat Tenderloin bistro Huxley, which opened last fall, is the debut effort of Kris Esqueda (Saison, Sons & Daughters) and executive chef Sara Hauman (Bar Agricole). Its rustic, heartfelt menu includes the charred squid salad, full of California staples such as avocado, cilantro, and mint. The simple dish can be tailored to fit any season: Substitute chickpeas with lentils or quinoa for a hearty, cold-weather meal or, Hauman recommends, wait for summer to add sweet tomatoes for the perfect picnic salad.

Melissa Perello, Michelin-starred chef of Frances, is poised to reinvent her quaint neighborhood restaurant concept on a larger scale in Pac Heights. Perello will open the 54-seat Octavia this April in the former Baker & Banker space, where she’ll plate her trademark heartfelt dishes of fresh provisions from local farmers and fisherman, with hearty Josey Baker breads on the side. We asked the noted chef to share with us her thoughts on food trends (good and bad), last meals, junk food, and more.

All over the city, new restaurants are confidently offering a different style of menu: family style (or at least they’re listing a few big dishes built to share). Instead of everyone ordering their own plates, now you need to come to a quorum at the table about what you want to order. It's about shared enjoyment. Come together, right now, over food.

There is not much I can actually claim to know anything about, but given my Southeast Asian heritage—and the fact that I spent the majority of my 20s traveling the backpacker circuit through that part of the world—I feel confident about my knowledge and familiarity with the cuisines of the region. So when Michelin-starred chef James Syhabout recently opened the second outpost of his Thai street-food eatery Hawker Fare in the Valencia Street corridor, we summoned a First World tuk-tuk (aka an Uber) to whisk us there, stat. No reason to keep nostalgia waiting.

Crab season alert: get ready to grab some bait, set your traps, and haul in a bountiful day's catch, thanks to the pier crabbing demonstration offered by the folks at the National Park Service in the Presidio.

No need to journey deep into the Amazon rainforest to find intoxicating herbal blends packed with healing powers. Gruit (pronounced groo-it), a beer that’s mulled with herbs instead of hops, is bubbling up on drink menus around town.